Jehovah’s Witnesses resume big gatherings

LOS ANGELES — Nearly a year after Jehovah’s Witnesses resumed their trademark doorto-door preaching, adherents of the faith will convene in person for one of their largest conventions after a three-year pandemic pause.

Kingdom Halls — where congregants typically meet twice a week — reopened for in-person worship in April

2022. In September, door knocking resumed.

Now, the three-day gathering, centered on the theme of patience, will be held at the Long Beach Arena in Los Angeles County and in venues around the world.

Conventions are an important part of the culture of the global denomination of 8.6 million.

The Long Beach event is just the first of 12 Jehovah’s Witnesses conventions to take place at the arena this summer, and some 6,000 conventions will be held worldwide as part of this year’s “Exercise Patience”! Convention series. Leaders expect about 80,000 attendees to attend the summer conventions in Long Beach.

In the U.S., more than 700 Jehovah’s Witnesses conventions will be held in 144 host cities, including San Antonio, the denomination said.

Multiple three-day regional conventions are being held this summer in the Alamo City. The first begins June 30 and the last is set for September 1.

The “Exercise Patience”! Convention will be held at the Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 9750 Eagle Crest Blvd, Windcrest.

Until the pandemic, “being part of a large group at conventions has always been our custom, so we are excited to be together again for this convention,” said Sean Butler, spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Long Beach Arena is one of the largest venues that Jehovah’s Witnesses use in the United States, said Gene Beltran, a regional spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses. Beltran said thousands of volunteers gathered at the arena on Thursday to help clean the venue before the start of the convention.

“There’s an exuberance